Article of footwear



Aug. 27, 1957 T. P. MORGAN 2,803,394

ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Filed March 25, 1955 FIG.I.

. lfive nfar Thomas P. Morgan:

ATTYQI United States Patent ARTICLE OF FOOTWEAR Thomas P. Morgan,Washington, D. C. Application March 25, 1955, Serial No. 496,860 ZCIaims. c1. 36--11.5)

This invention relates and is directed footwear.

The invention particularly relates to new and novel casual or informalfootwear in the nature of slippers or loose fitting foot covering-sanalogous to sandals particularly designed for use by children thoughnot restricted to such use.

Children quickly outgrow shoes and slippers. Accordingly, it isnecessary to make frequent replacements of the same, even though theymay not be worn to any appreciable extent. It is, accordingly, aparticular object of the present invention to provide, in a manner asherenafter set forth, a foot covering of the slipper type whichconstructed in a new and novel manner whereby it may have a wide rangeof adjustability so that, when used for children particularly, it may beadjusted for size to fit the growing foot and, therefore, only three orfour sizes of the article are all that may be required for use from theinfant stage through the childhood and youth stages to the full size foran adult.

Footwear of the sandal type, or the style commonly known as scuffs,while easy to slip on, are not particularly easy to keep on or in placeand, accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide aslipper, sandal or scuff type of footwear which is designed so that .itmay be easily placed on the foot and which can be easily and quickly,firmly and comfortably secured thereon.

A further object of the invention is to provide an article of thecharacter stated which is constructed in a new and novel manner whereby,in securing it to or on the foot, it automatically adjusts itself to thelength of the foot.

Conventional shoes, slippers and scuifs are made .in rights and leftsand, therefore, cannot be worn comfortably if not put on the correctfoot. A further object, therefore, of the present invention is toprovide aself-adjusting article of footwear which is designed orconstructed me new manner whereby a pair comprises two duplicate oridentical members so that no attention has to be given toputting each onthe correctfoot.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a slipper or similararticle of footwear of new and novel construction having a toe endportion and a heel end portion wherein the heel end portion is adaptedto be turned up to diifer'entheight's at the back-of the heel of awearer as the foot of the wearer grows or increases in length so thatthe article is effectively adjustable for lengthand'such article in onesize may be used for along period, as for'exampleafor a' child, startingat a very small age'and as the size of the childs foot increases inlength.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an article offootwear of'the above described character which is relatively of simpleconstruction, may be made of neat and attractive appea'rance and iscomfortable-and entirely safe for usersof all ages.

The invention will be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description 'taken in congenerally to the class ofapparel particularly to improvements in articles of nection with theaccompanying drawing with the understanding that the invention is notconfined to a strict conformity with the showing of the drawing but maybe changed or modified in minor details so long as such changes ormodifications mark no material departure from the salient features ofthe invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of an article of footwear constructed inaccordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention showingthe same applied to an adult foot.

Fig. 2 is a rear end perspective view of the article shown in Fig. 1,showing the heel end portion flattened out.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a view in perspective of the invention in slightly modifiedform as applied to a childs foot, showing the heel end portion turned upto maximum height.

Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the article shown in Fig. 5 andillustrating its application to a foot of increased length wherein theheight of the heel end portion of the article is materially reduced.

Fig. 7 is a detail section taken substantially on the line 7-7 of Fig.6.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, two constructions of thearticle of footwear of the present in vention have been illustrated,which constructions re.- late to'the materials used, the broad orprincipal new and novel characteristics of the article being thesame inboth instances. The description, in view of the foregoing, will first bedirected to the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4 and in these figures,the numeral 10 generally designates the slipper or article of footwearof the present invention while the numerals l2 and 14 designaterespectively the sole body and the toe enclosing or cover,- ing topwhich overlies the toe end portion of the article. As illustrated, thesole body is of substantial length and when the slipper is unapplied, itlies flat throughout as shown. in Figs. 3 and 4 and, in thisconstruction, the sole body is made up preferably of a. bottomlamination 16 which may be of leather or other suitable wear resistantmaterial, a top or insole lamination l8 and an intermediate paddinglamination 20. The forward part of the sole body, or approximately theforward half thereof may be and is hereinafter referred to as the toeend portion and is generally designed a, while the rear half of the solebody will be hereinafter referred to as the heel end portion and isgenerally designated 11 and embodies the part which conventionally liesunder the instep and the part which forms the back of the slipper whenit is turned up in the manner hereinafter described. The toe end portiona has disposed thereover the top or cover 14 which in the constructionillustrated comprises a double thickness of material, each thicknessbeing designated 21 and the side and forward edge portions of this coverlie along the side and forward edges of the toe end portion a of thesole body and are secured thereto'by the binding tape 22 whichoutlinesthe entire sole body from one end to the other and extending acrosstheforward end as shown. .1" his binding tape is, as shown in Figs. 3and 4, .turned over the top of the superimposed laminations making upthe toe covering 14 and the sole body as indicated at 22a andZZbandcovers the puter edges of all 'of these laminationsas indicated at22c so that one or two lines of stitching 23 secure all of t he lambnationsfirmly together.

The .toeaend. covering portion gi l has ,the -conventipnal arched rearedge which is secured in the binding 24 and slopes downwardly andforwardly to the front end of the sole body and also slopes laterallyand downwardly to the side edges thereof in the conventional manner ofslippers of this type and the laminations 21 are preferably securedtogether by transverse rows of stitching 21a as shown. 7 g The forwardhalf of the sole body, that is, the toe end portion designated a, hasthe forward end preferably rounded as indicated at 25 and the side edgeportions are bowed outwardly slightly as indicated at as and these mergeinto the straight substantially parallel side edges 27 of the heel endportion 1). The binding tape 22 is continuous along both sides andacross the rounded forward end 25, and at the back or free end of theheel end portion the tape is extended to form ankle or tie straps 28.

The laminations f6, 18 and 21B of the sole body atthe back edges thereofare bound with the cross tape or cross binding strap 29 and the solebody is traversed throughout its length with the relatively closelyspaced lines of stitching 30 which secure all of the laminationstogether so that there will be no relative movement between them and thepadding 2% or the the insole 18 will not ruck or wrinkle These crossrows of stitching 30 also have the function of facilitating thetransverse folding or bending of the heel end portion when the slipperis applied so as to provide an upstanding back for the slipper as shownin Fig. l.

in Figs. 5 to 7 the invention is illustrated as of slightly differentconstruction from the slipper shown in Figs. 1 to 4. This slightlymodified slipper is generally designated 10a and the numerals 12a and14a generally designate respectively thesole body and the top or toe endportion covering part into which the forward end of the foot isreceived. In this modified construction, the sole body is made up merelyof the bottom lamination or sole proper which is designated 31 and theinsole lamination designated 32 and the top is made of a singlethickness of material which is designated 33. The forward and side edgesof this material 33 together with the forward and side edges of thelaminations 31 and 32 are all bound together with the binding tape 34which, like the tape 22, extends throughout the sides and across the toeend of the sole body and is continued for a substantial length beyondthe back end of the sole body to provide the ankle or tie straps 35. Inthis construction, the sole forming lamination 31 may be of relativelystiff canvas or the like and the inner sole 32 may be of any desiredsoft material and these laminations may be cross stitched if desired orcan only be connected together around the peripheries by the bindingtape 34,.

As will be readily seen upon reference to Figs. 1, 5 and 6, the slipperin both of the described forms when in use has the heel end portionfolded or bent across the back of the heel to provide an upwardlydirected portion which lies against the rear surface of the heel. This,in effect, forms a heel or back for the slipper and, in the figuresreferred to, is designated by the reference character B. When this backis thus formed by pulling upon the tie straps 28 and 35, after placingthe toes of the foot in the toe covering part 14 or 14a, the slipperautomatically adjusts to the length of the foot. It will be readilyapparent that if a person with a slightly larger foot uses the slipperit), the upturned back would not stand as high when the straps are tiedor if the slipper is applied to a much smaller foot, then when thestraps are tied together around the ankle, the upstanding back B will behigher than when the larger foot was in the slipper.

As previously stated, Fig. 5 represents the application of the slipper10a to the foot of a child or an infant and, in this case, it will beseen that the slipper may be of such size that the back part B standsvery high but as the childs foot increases in length, there is nonecessity to change to a different size of slipper to accommodate theincreased length because as the foot length increases the turned up backforming part will merely decrease in height or, in other words, thetransverse folding of the heel end portion will be nearer to the backend and Fig. 6 illustrates an extreme condition where the continuedincrease in the size of the foot reduces the upturned back part tominimum height. It will be appreciated from this that the slipper can,therefore, be used over a long period of time for a child since thechange in the length of the growing foot will not necessitate thechanging from one slipper size to another as is necessary withconventional slippers but with the present invention the slipper adjustsitself to this changing foot length.

While Figs. 5 and 6 illustrates the use on a childs or infants foot ofthe embodiment of the invention wherein only two laminations of materialmake up the sole and a single thickness of material makes up the toecovering part, it is to be understood that the construction firstdescribed and illustrated in Figs. 1 to 4 may be used if desired forinfants and children and on the other hand, the simpler construction maybe used in slippers intended for adult wear.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that there is provided a new andnovel form of footwear which a child can use until it is fully worn outregardless of rapidity of growth of the child and it will also beapparent that the invention provides an unusually convenient, informalor casual footwear for an entire family which can be inexpensivelyproduced. The method of adjustment and fastening is such as to assure agood fit and eliminate difficulty of keeping the article on the foot,which is so commonly a real problem, especially with childrens houseslippers.

I claim:

1. A slipper type article of footwear comprising an elongate sole bodyof substantially constant width throughout its length, the sole bodybeing of a soft foldable material, an upper forming a forwardly anddownwardly inclined toe covering overlying one end portion of the solebody and forming a pocket therewith and said toe covering having sideedges secured to adjacent side edges of the sole body and having aforwardly curving arcuate rear edge intersecting said side edges, thesole body from said pocket to the rear end thereof forming the heel endportion of the slipper, said heel end portion being approximatelytwo-thirds the total length of the slipper, said heel end portion beingtransversely bendable anywhere along its length from the toe covering tosaid rear end of the sole, whereby it may be turned up against the backof the heel of a foot resting on the body and having the toes thereofwithin the pocket, and a pair of relatively long tie tapes joined tosaid sole longitudinally along said side edges and binding said edgesand the edges of said toe covering and extending rearwardly from saidrear end lengthwise of the sole body as extensions of the side edges andadapted to be drawn up on opposite sides of the ankle of a foot in theslipper to be tied around the ankle to bend the heel end portionupwardly and retain the article on the foot, and said tie'tapes when sodrawn together around the ankle functioning to adjust the length of theslipper to the foot.

2. A slipper type article according to claim 1 wherein said sole bodycomprises at least two laminations of material having transverse linesof stitching therethrough, the lines of stitching being spaced apartlongitudinally of the sole body and functioning to facilitate the saidbending of the body and maintaining the laminations against relativedisplacement, and the tie and binding tapes extending'across the edgesof said laminations and onto the top and bottom faces of the sole body,and the turned top and bottom face engaging portions'of the binding tapehaving stitching therethrough and through said laminations throughoutthe length of such portions.

(References on following page) References Cited in the file of thispatent UNITED STATES PATENTS Batten Oct. 20, 1914 Grayson Jan. 9, 1923 5Guitfre Jan. 17, 1933 Koch Nov. 18, 1941 6 Sawyer ..L, Oct. 20, 1942Ludwig Dec. 25, 1945 Hilton Nov. 10, 1953 Martin et a1. June 5, 1956FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain June 15, 1933

